Sports Need at centre makes Canadiens a wild card in 2018 NHL Draft

18:09 08 june 2018

18:09 08 june 2018 Source:
sportsnet.ca

Canadiens agree to deal with defenceman Rinat Valiev

The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms with defenceman Rinat Valiev on a one-year, two-way contract for the 2018-19 season, the team announced Thursday. The post Lots of pressing questions loom over under-whelming Whitecaps appeared first on Sportsnet.ca.The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms with defenceman Rinat Valiev on a one-year, two-way contract for the 2018-19 season, the team announced Thursday.

Speculation fuelled by the fact that the Canadiens have a longstanding and glaring need at centre , ignited by the tidbit they were one of three teams to take Kotkaniemi out for dinner at last week’s NHL combine %2Fhockey%2Fnhl%2Fneed- centre - makes - canadiens - wild - card - 2018 - nhl - draft %2F.

Here’s a scenario for you to chew on: The Buffalo Sabres take Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin with the first-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft , the Carolina Hurricanes take Russian power forward Andrei Svechnikov with the second pick, and the Montreal Canadiens trade the third pick and one of

Here’s a scenario for you to chew on: The Buffalo Sabres take Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin with the first-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, the Carolina Hurricanes take Russian power forward Andrei Svechnikov with the second pick, and the Montreal Canadiens trade the third pick and one of their four second-round picks to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for forward Max Domi and the fifth-overall pick.

Don’t get caught up in the tit-for-tat semantics here. This is just an example of what it might take for the Canadiens to move the third pick, which is most likely to be used on Halifax Mooseheads winger Filip Zadina—a player who appears ready to be a scorer at the NHL level as early as next season.

The Habs’ options are wide open at the 2018 NHL Draft

The Habs’ options are wide open at the 2018 NHL DraftThe 2018 NHL Draft is a unique opportunity for the Montreal Canadiens. They hold the third overall pick, which by itself is a major chance to draft a talent that can help fix some of the issues facing the franchise. They also possess four second-round picks, including two in the first 10 picks of the second day of selections thanks to a trade that sent Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann to Chicago. The Habs still have their own pick in the third round, and then three picks in the fourth, making it nine total picks in the first four rounds.

The Canadiens desperately need to add two top centres to their roster in order to make a difference. The Montreal Canadiens could be the wild card of the 2018 NHL Draft given that they are in desperate need of centres .

Need at centre makes Canadiens a wild card in 2018 NHL Draft - Sportsnet.ca The Montreal Canadiens could be the wild card of the 2018 NHL Draft given that they are in desperate need of centres .

It’s also an example of what kind of drama the Canadiens can stir up on June 22 in Dallas, armed with nine picks in the first four rounds—and all the incentive in the world to try to fast-track their retool. It’s purely hypothetical, but something worth considering as we edge closer to draft day.

There are no guarantees the Canadiens want to do something like this with Arizona, just as there are none that the Coyotes would entertain such a deal (though it was reported prior to this year’s trade deadline that they might be looking to move the 23-year-old Domi). But if Montreal is going to pass on an NHL-ready prospect at third overall, they’re going to want to get a proven NHLer in addition to a high first-round pick in exchange for doing so.

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The 2018 NHL Draft will be remembered as the Year of Rasmus. USATSI. Loser: Joe Veleno. Many projected Veleno to be a lottery pick, but the talented center nearly fell out of the first round somehow. However, I don't love the Jesper Kotkaniemi pick for the Canadiens .

Get NHL Credit Card . The first round of the 2018 NHL Draft presented by adidas is complete, 31 young men took another step toward fulfilling his dream of playing in the NHL . NHL .com analysis: The Canadiens find a player they hope can develop into a No. 1 center .

It’s not an easy type of trade to pull off. In fact, we can’t really conjure up a similar scenario involving the Canadiens and another team slated to pick in the top 10 that would make much sense. And those are just two of the reasons it’s most likely Montreal holds onto Pick No. 3.

Here’s another, as advanced by Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin in his interview with NHL.com last Tuesday.

“You pay a hefty price to get that pick,” Bergevin said. “Obviously having the season we had (finishing 28th overall), that’s what gave us the right to pick that high. It’s certainly not the goal when your season starts. But after all the pain and suffering, people will say, ‘Will you ever trade that pick?’ You know what? I learned from a comment (then-Chicago Blackhawks GM) Dale Tallon made when I was in Chicago. He said: ‘You know what? You know how much we suffered to get that pick?’ And I believe at the time it was third overall and it was (centre) Jonathan Toews. And the next year, it was Patrick Kane (with the No. 1 pick). So it’s not a fun time for our fans to suffer the way they did this year, but we’re going to get rewarded in Dallas with a pick we feel will make our team better in the long haul. That’s the price to pay.”

The Habs’ draft pick board for the 2018 NHL Draft

The Habs’ draft pick board for the 2018 NHL DraftThe final two positions for the 2018 NHL Draft were determined when the Stanley Cup Final came to an end, with the Washington Capitals’ championship putting them into the 31st and final position of each of the seven rounds.

NHL draft predictions: Who could be traded, wild cards , more. Which team is the biggest wild card on draft weekend? Peters: The Montreal Canadiens are the team that really holds the key My guess is they take the coveted center Kotkaniemi, but no one has a great read on what Bergevin will do.

Welcome to the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Whatever decision the Canadiens make may determine how the rest of the first round develops. The Ottawa Senators have the No. 4 pick.

There’s no arguing with any of that.

But Bergevin’s comments, which have been widely heard around these parts by now, have done little to quiet speculation that the Canadiens are most interested in drafting Finnish centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is projected to go anywhere between fourth and 10th overall. Speculation fuelled by the fact that the Canadiens have a longstanding and glaring need at centre, ignited by the tidbit they were one of three teams to take Kotkaniemi out for dinner at last week’s NHL combine, and set ablaze by Kotkaniemi himself, who said to reporters, “I’ve heard they’re going to draft a centre, I hope it’s me.”

Even if that speculation is accurate—Zadina seems convinced it is—it’s hard to imagine the Canadiens going off the board and ignoring the consensus best player with the third overall pick. Unless they feel Kotkaniemi is the third-best player available in this draft (they’d be just about the only ones who feel that way) they’d be drafting purely by need, which would run counter to assistant general manager and head of amateur scouting Trevor Timmins’s draft philosophy.

When is the 2018 NHL Draft? Order of picks, date, time & live TV coverage

When is the 2018 NHL Draft? Order of picks, date, time & live TV coverageThe Sabres, Hurricanes and Canadiens won this year's NHL Draft lottery and will select first, second and third, respectively. The remainder or the draft order is now finalized with the conclusion of the Stanley Cup playoffs, barring the inevitable trades that will shake things up.

Centermen take center stage for Wild on Day 2 of 2018 NHL Draft . Wild believes it made the smart pick in selecting Johansson. Swedish defenseman needs time to develop, but team envisions impact player in the future.

NHL mock draft 2.0: Movement near the top, Arizona Coyotes a wild card at No. 5. Explanation: Without knowing whether top-line center John Tavares will be back with the Islanders next season, it makes sense for the organization to reload at the position with the second of back-to-back picks in the

“The thing you need to be careful with when we start to talk about need is you can say you need to draft by need, but if you draft specifically by need and you draft a player just for need, and he’s not good enough to fulfill that need in the future, then you’ve wasted the asset,” Timmins told reporters at the combine.

The objective here is to maximize the asset, which is what makes trading down and picking a player who fills a need—and obtaining another who can play on the NHL roster next season—a realistic possibility for the Canadiens.

In the event that they can’t accomplish that, no one will consider adding the 44-goal scoring Zadina to be a waste. And the Canadiens might be able to turn some of those second-rounders—or a current roster player—into another first-round pick, giving them the opportunity to add a high-end centre or a defenceman, which is also something they need.

Possibilities like these are what make the Canadiens a wild card at this year’s draft. More of them are sure to be advanced between now and the moment they step to the podium in Dallas.

The Domi—Galchenyuk trade is the first, but not defining, move of the Habs’ off-season .
There is still plenty of money that needs to be spent ahead of the 2018-19 campaign. The Montreal Canadiens will not enter this upcoming season with $8 million in space under the salary cap. They definitely won’t be anywhere close to the $20 million they currently have if the salary cap tops out at $80 million. So while the trade to acquire Max Domi from the Arizona Coyotes for Alex Galchenyuk was the first significant roster move of the off-season, it will not be the defining one. And it will also not be defined by whether the Canadiens do - or more likely don’t - sign John Tavares. There are a lot of options for Marc Bergevin this summer. Sure, he has players he can trade but the real question is how creative he gets. There’s no mystery surrounding offers made to Andrei Markov and Alex Radulov. There is no last-minute game of musical chairs after all the seats are taken. He had a whole season to figure out what he will do with the space. He has an opportunity. The question is how he uses it. Will he use it to sign Jack Johnson? Will he use cap space to collect assets while taking on another team’s albatross? Will he take a managed approach to signing multiple players come July 1? Will he sign someone to an offer sheet? (OK, that last one is a joke). Knowing how Bergevin has operated, it’s likely the option is something we’re not thinking of, but whatever it is, that will be how the off-season is defined, not by this one trade.

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Speculation fuelled by the fact that the Canadiens have a longstanding and glaring need at centre , ignited by the tidbit they were one of three teams to take Kotkaniemi out for dinner at last week’s NHL combine %2Fhockey%2Fnhl%2Fneed- centre - makes - canadiens - wild - card - 2018 - nhl - draft %2F.

Here’s a scenario for you to chew on: The Buffalo Sabres take Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin with the first-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft , the Carolina Hurricanes take Russian power forward Andrei Svechnikov with the second pick, and the Montreal Canadiens trade the third pick and one of

The Canadiens desperately need to add two top centres to their roster in order to make a difference. The Montreal Canadiens could be the wild card of the 2018 NHL Draft given that they are in desperate need of centres .

The 2018 NHL Draft will be remembered as the Year of Rasmus. USATSI. Loser: Joe Veleno. Many projected Veleno to be a lottery pick, but the talented center nearly fell out of the first round somehow. However, I don't love the Jesper Kotkaniemi pick for the Canadiens .

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Get NHL Credit Card . The first round of the 2018 NHL Draft presented by adidas is complete, 31 young men took another step toward fulfilling his dream of playing in the NHL . NHL .com analysis: The Canadiens find a player they hope can develop into a No. 1 center .

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